One of the highlights of any conference is seeing the latest technology and hottest products vendors have at the supplier showcase. By bringing TTA and KTA members together, the joint conference brings out a strong group of industry-leading vendors. The KTA-TTA Joint Conference Supplier Showcase will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 19, at the Sloan Convention Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, made headlines across the nation when he announced he would not seek a third term in the Senate on Sept. 26. His announcement surprised many, but it also set off an immediate scramble among journalists and officials to determine possible replacements.

But while Sen. Corker may have made the biggest splash, he’s far from the only elected official in the state making announcements. With help from TTA’s lobbying team, The Capitol Strategy Group, here is a rundown of which elected officials have announced retirement plans or aspirations for different offices next year.

US Senate

Corker’s decision to retire led to rumors of everyone from Peyton Manning to Tim McGraw eyeing a senatorial run in 2018. While Manning and other notables such as Gov. Bill Haslam have already declined any notion of running for the seat, others are already making their case to voters.

When most people think of SkyLine Membership Corporation or SkyBest Communications, they think of it as a North Carolina telco. But thanks to one exchange in Johnson County, SkyLine is also a Tennessee telco — and a proud TTA member.

Industry members also associate a history of innovation with SkyLine. The company, which operates as its subsidiary SkyBest Communications in its CLEC, began building out its fiber network in 2004. It serves 98 percent of customers with fiber. They continue to develop new services like Weekender Internet and The Video Exchange, as well as innovative solutions like remote workers and a smart home demo cabin.

Appropriately, SkyLine CEO Jimmy Blevins was recognized by the NTCA with a Management Innovation Award in 2016.

“We keep moving forward,” said Karen Powell, public relations administrator for SkyLine. “Our board and our management staff have that ability to be thinking ahead. When opportunities present themselves, we capitalize on them.”

Believed to be the eighth largest telephone cooperative in the United States, SkyLine serves four counties in western North Carolina, with SkyBest offering service in the cities of Boone, West Jefferson, Jefferson and Lenoir. The Shady Valley Exchange in Johnson County, Tennessee, was its first all-fiber exchange.

SkyLine’s most visible development in recent years has been its retail center and the home automation built into a log cabin near the West Jefferson Walmart. The company has also opened a new Boone Customer Center in the area’s largest city. The customer center will demonstrate to customers the latest technology, including an iBeam robot and a 3D printer.

“We’re all about technology, but because we’re a cooperative, we’re member-driven and member-focused,” Powell said.

That focus is apparent with products like SkyLine’s Weekender Internet Service aimed at part-time residents. Reduced-rate service is cut on at noon Friday and deactivated at noon on Monday. “Being in the mountains we have a lot of folks who are only here part time,” Powell explained.

SkyLine managers have also turned their innovative thinking inward with a pilot program allowing some employees to work from home over their broadband connections. So far, supervisors have been very pleased with the results of allowing several members of the Support Services department to work remotely. “If you talk to any of those ladies, they love working from home,” Powell said.

But whatever projects the SkyLine and SkyBest teams are working on, it’s only possible because of their network connecting their communities in rural Tennessee and North Carolina.

“The underlying connection to everything we do is that fiber broadband service,” Powell says. “It’s allowed us to offer those cutting-edge products and services.”

The KTA-TTA Joint Fall Conference is set for Oct. 17-19 at the Holiday Inn University Plaza and Sloan Convention Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

This year, conference attendees will hear from several important industry figures, including a keynote address from Anne Hazlett, assistant to the secretary for Rural Development.

Appointed in June by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, Hazlett has worked on agricultural and rural issues for more than 15 years. She was director of agriculture in Indiana and most recently served as Republican chief counsel for the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

At the conference, Josh Siedemann of NTCA will speak about Partnerships in Broadband, Greg Jackson with Dynetics will talk about Cybersecurity Simulation, and Nathan Weber with Vantage Point will discuss 5G. Also, remember to bring your golf clubs for the much-anticipated tournament at Crosswinds Golf Club.

Breakout sessions will include:

How Netflix Works (with Peter Cohen of Netflix)

The Cybersecurity Roadmap

Preparing for Disaster: Ensuring Your Backup Power is Always Ready

My Video Customers Cut the Cord. Now what?

GPS Data Collection/GIS Mapping — Why it is Important for Your Utility

Small, independent telecommunications providers continue to make strides in providing high-speed broadband to rural Americans, according to a recent report from NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association. Still, the telcos struggle with high infrastructure costs and regulatory hurdles.

The report was based on a spring 2017 online survey that asked NTCA members questions about their current operations, competition, marketing efforts, and current and planned fiber deployment. Results are based on the 29 percent of the 172 members that responded.

Fiber by the numbers

While 100 percent of the survey respondents offer broadband to some part of their customer bases, only 52 percent provide fiber to the home for at least half their customers. Another 24 percent of respondents serve 20 percent or fewer of their customers with fiber to the home. Nine percent offer fiber to the node.

Respondents predict these rates will climb over the next few years. Most say they have a strategy in place to deploy more fiber infrastructure by the end of 2019. Of the 82 percent of respondents who say they have a plan in place:

39 percent say they plan to offer fiber to the node to more than three-quarters of their customers during that time frame.

66 percent plan to offer fiber to the home to at least half their customers in that time.

31 percent have already completed fiber deployments to all customers.

Most customers fall somewhere in the middle when it comes to broadband speed, survey respondents say, even when higher speeds are available. The survey found that nearly a quarter of respondents’ customers choose broadband speeds between 10 and 25 Mbps. The next most popular level of service is more than 25 Mbps, followed by 6-10 Mbps.

Obstacles

Bringing in more fiber lines is expected to happen, but it won’t be easy, respondents say. Many cite infrastructure and equipment costs and existing or uncertain regulatory rules as the biggest barriers to the widespread deployment of fiber.

In addition, rural telecoms face the age-old problem of large service areas along difficult terrain that offer few potential customers. Of the customers that are there, some might be unwilling or unable to pay the high costs needed for telecoms to receive a return on their investment.

Respondents say other problems with implementing fiber include: long loops, obtaining financing, fiber-order fulfillment delays, and obtaining cost-effective equipment. Competition with other companies is also an issue in some regions.

Considering the costs

Most respondents say deploying more fiber would cost well into the millions. Nearly a third of the survey’s respondents estimate it would cost between $1 million and $10 million in additional capital investment to bring all of their customers currently receiving service below 25 Mbps up to that speed.

An additional 27 percent could do so for between $20 million and $50 million. Twenty-one percent say it would take about $10 million to $20 million, and 18 percent say it would take $1 million or less. Another 7 percent say it could take more than $50 million.

Still, respondents say many customers are steadily moving up to faster broadband speeds, and companies need to be prepared. This year, 17 percent of respondents’ customers subscribed to broadband service in excess of 25 Mbps, versus only 8 percent a year ago.

Several survey takers say more grants and fewer regulatory restraints are needed in response to the need for faster broadband speed increases. This would ensure that the country’s rural consumers have comparable services as their urban neighbors.